5 percent discount. How to calculate the discount as a percentage: the main methods and techniques for solving. Everything to control the company's debts

08.03.2020

Kotikov's comment

Today we have a slightly unusual article, because these are two articles under one cover.

The first is purely practical, about how to correctly calculate the maximum possible discount for yourself in order to remain profitable, and not vice versa.

The second article, on the contrary, is rather theoretical, it is about what we need to know about discounts before offering them to anyone at all.

The articles complement each other so well that they simply have to stand side by side.

Is the customer asking for a discount again? Agree! Yeah, you will respond, again to work at a loss? Not quite so: if you correctly calculate the size of the discount, everyone will benefit. Egor Egorushkin, partner and director of the project office of the Here and Now consulting group, shared the formulas for calculating profitable discounts. Here are the abstracts from his speech.

The discount should be beneficial to everyone

In order not to be torn between the desire to earn and keep the client, you need to offer a discount that is beneficial to everyone. In this case, the client will not go to a competitor, and you will still remain in the black after numerous expenses for delivery and “customs clearance” of the goods. But how to calculate the exact size of the discount, if it depends on the company's profitability, and everyone's profitability is different?

To find out, you need to answer two questions: how much more do you need to sell to offer an X% discount? And if you sell more by X%, what is the maximum discount to give so as not to work at a loss? Let's start in order.

1. How much more do you need to sell to give an X% discount

First, let's define the difference between price and markup. The markup is applied to the cost, the discount is given from the price. Let's say your markup is 30%, and you want to give a discount of 5%. For example, the price of a product is 100 rubles, for 95 you sell it.

But keep in mind that if you applied a 30% markup to the cost, this means that you have not 30% of income in the price, but a little less. We bought a product for 100 rubles, cheated 30%, got a price of 130. That is, we earned 30, but it will not be 30%, but less, 30% must be divided by 130.

The formula for calculating the markup from the price

So what happened? With a markup of 30%, the price contains 23% of our income. If we give the client a discount, then we share the income with him. What part? Let's calculate this, taking into account that we give him a discount of 5%.

With a 5% discount, you share a fifth of your income

It turns out that if you give a discount of 5% on a price that contains 23% of your income, then you share almost 22% of your income. And then simple mathematics, as in school: you need to remember what to divide by what.

If you used to sell 1000 pieces, how much more should you sell at a 5% discount?

Need to sell at least +276 pieces

Please note that if you sell 27.6% more, you will earn the same amount as before the discount.

Therefore, in order to work profitably, you need to sell more than 27.6%. That is, if you sell, for example, only 20-25% more, you will be in the red.

Your revenue will increase, because if you give a 5% discount to sell more, sales will increase by more than 5%. This is how it turns out for many sellers: sales seem to have grown by 15-25%, but they cannot understand where the money is.

Keep in mind that if you give a discount of 5%, then sales will not necessarily increase by exactly 27.6%. It will depend on how much profit you are selling. She is completely different for everyone.

2. If you sell more by X%, what is the maximum discount to give so as not to go into the red?

Let's say a client buys 1,000 items from you and says that he is ready to buy 1,500 items next year if you interest him in the price. Let's figure out how much discount you can give him.

First, we calculate the increase in sales and insert it into the formula below. The increase will depend on how much your customer expects to buy. In our example, if the client buys 1.5 times more next time, then the increase in sales will be 50%.

Do not throw off in this case more than 7.7%

So: 7.7% is the maximum discount you can give this client. You can give 5, 6 or even 7.5% - it will be small, but a plus. If you give a discount of more than 7.7%, you will receive a loss.

How to calculate correctly using formulas

Marginality or profitability strongly depends on how you calculate the costs. For example, on whether you include the salary of the chief accountant and the commission to the seller in the cost price or not. The danger is that if you do not count all the direct costs that are associated with sales, you will get an inflated profitability and decide that you are earning more than you really are. If you get an inflated return, you will also get an inflated maximum discount.

Inflated Yield - Inflated max. discount

For example, you get a 10% discount. This is the extreme limit and you threw off the client, for example, 8%, but you still get a minus at the output. The reason will be that you calculated the classic costs - purchase, transport, customs, but did not take into account taxes, shipping fees, packaging, etc.

But there is another option, which is even more dangerous. For example, you included in the cost wages chief accountant. In this case, you will receive an underestimated yield, and then the discount will also be smaller. For example, they received a maximum of 5%. The client was offered 4%, and your competitor - 5%, despite the fact that you could actually give up 7.7%. But they didn’t, and they lost the client, simply from the fact that they counted incorrectly.

Therefore, I advise you to treat such calculations with maximum attention - these figures hide both your profit that can please you, and problems that will definitely not please you.

Discounts that don't become evil

Article by Sergey Slavinsky, director of Syndicated Brands, original on Medium.

Richard Estes, In the Candy Store, 1983

Some people think discounts are evil. Someone is the main driver of sales development. But there is one caveat here...

Discounts are good only when they strengthen the relationship between the supplier of the product and its consumer. If this does not happen - price competition leads to the depletion of the company's resources. Further you know.

Only the laziest have not written (or read) about sales marketing and the failure of this concept for the last 60 years. But when does this tool work for the benefit of both the buyer and the seller?

Apparent validity

In order for discounts to be an effective tool not only for one-time sales, but for strengthening relationships and creating positive experiences, they must have only one property - obvious justification.

If the product expires, the discount is clear to us. If a company is looking for “jambs” in a new product, a discount (for example, for testing or technical discovery) is understandable to us. If this is a discount for pensioners, students or children, this is understandable. Even the special club price is acceptable. But "promotional goods" or "sales" - no. Because they need a reason. Why action? Why the sale?

Despite their popularity, the mechanics of such events are detrimental. Her product will certainly be taken, but how will the discount affect the perception of your brand? Especially in those categories where bargaining traditionally does not occur.

There is only one conclusion. More precisely, two: "no one takes" and "they initially raised the price." And how will such thoughts of buyers affect their attitude towards your product? It is difficult to say exactly how, but what can be assumed for sure is that it will be a negative reaction, not a positive one. Even despite your desire to do good and bring your amazing product to a wider audience (what else?).

There are a huge number of ways to justify a discount, and this action is not at all tricky. If you already think that the time has come for this tool - use it with maximum benefit. Give the feeling that your buyer earned a discount, and did not receive it for free.

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Now you can solve this riddle with our discount calculator. With all percentage amounts, our discount calculator works great for calculating the percentage of the discount. All you have to do is write down the original price of the item in dollars and the percentage discount on the item. Then, after the discount, just click "Calculate" to find out the true price of the item. It's amazingly fast, easy and free.

For example:

If you see an item that was originally priced at $29.99 and is showing a 23 percent discount. By plugging these numbers into our calculator, you will find that the cost of the item is now $23.09 and the savings is $6.90. You can double check them when you have our shop discount numbers and/or the discount you see online to make sure it's correct.

Even with fractions of a percentage, our percentage discount calculator works great. If you see an item with an original price of $24.99 and a 17.5% discount, you can write the fractional numbers into our discount rate calculator and find out what new price is $20.62 and the discount is $4.37.

It has never been so easy to find the price of an item with a discount!

How to calculate the discount?

A discount is a reduction in the base price of a good or service. This can happen during the production or sale process at any stage: suppliers can discount material prices, or retailers can put up a bright red tag that says 15% off! on a piece of clothing.

Often discounts are made to speed up the sale of shares, to encourage customers, to attract attention, or to increase short-term profits.

As customers, we often fall into the trap of impulsive purchases tempted by discount percentages. However, more often than not, we lose money instead of saving money when we indulge in shopping by buying unnecessary items prompted by the promise of a lower price.

Have you thought about the actual value of the discount? You may have some deals in mind, or you may have a percentage of the coupon on hand and want to know exactly what that dollar percentage is.

Using this calculator is the easiest way to find out the discounted price. But if you want to do the calculation manually, you can use the formula:

Sale price = original price - discount

Where the discount is equal to the original price of the item and the discount rate. So the final equation looks like this:

Discount price = original price - original price x discount rate

Discount types

Seasonal discounts

You may encounter various types discounts. Some of them are seasonal. Large clothing stores often announce 50% discounts when the seasons change.

Payment Method Discounts

Others are associated with a specific type of payment. Many retailers prefer to get paid in cash rather than a bank card to avoid transaction fees and get paid immediately.

Social Groups Discounts

Certain social groups receive discounts based on their characteristics, including students, military, seniors, and people with disabilities. Most companies also offer special discounts to their employees.

Special discount days

You may have witnessed these discounts on various occasions such as Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. These discounts are given in honor of a certain group of people.

Coupon Discounts

Coupon discounts are mainly used online, i.e. Amazon, eBay. One gets discounts if they have a code to apply before checking the cart after shopping online. However, coupon discounts are not limited to e-shopping.

No matter what the store's discount is, our discount calculator is always ready to calculate the interest rate for you. This will allow you to save on a specific sale of an item in a matter of seconds.

It is obvious that each percentage of discount sharply reduces profit. Discounts by themselves are not a stop factor for revenue growth, as long as they lead to higher revenue. With proper use of this advertising tool, you can not only maintain profit at the usual level, but also increase it.

Situation 1.

Situation 2.

Situation 3.

Let us analyze these cases, considering them solely from the point of view of what profit the company loses or receives specifically in these situations, without touching on subsequent prospects and consequences. This means that in this case we will not look at price cuts as some kind of long-term investment in the development of the client base. That is, we will determine the impact of these activities on profit "here and now."

How discounts reduce profits

To determine how the price reduction affected the company's profits, we only need to know two indicators: the current commodity margin and the size of the discount. Look at the table below. It gives an answer to the question - by how much you need to increase sales to the client to whom you have provided a discount in order to get the same profit that you had before.

The required increase in sales is indicated as a percentage at the intersection of markups and discounts.

Having analyzed the above situations with the help of this table, it is easy to find the answer to the question “Is it profitable for the company?”:

Situation 1. The marketer proposes to increase sales by 10% by providing a 10% discount. Is it beneficial for the company?

The answer to this question only in terms of the profitability of the transaction, and not the prospects, will always be - no. Unless your markup is infinite, a 10% discount will always take more profit from you than a 10% increase in sales.

Let's say your markup is 30%. If a customer receives a 10% discount from you, then you need to increase sales by 76% in order for you to receive the same profit as if you had not provided a discount.

Situation 2. During the month, you give your customers a 7% discount, thanks to which you get a 20% increase in sales compared to the previous month. Is it beneficial for the company?

Let's say the markup the manager was working with is 30%. To earn the same profit as before the discounts, the manager must increase his sales by 44%. Therefore, the “drain” of the company arranged by the manager is unprofitable.

Situation 3. Managers offer to reduce the price of N products by 15% in order to catch up with the offer of competitors. By how much should sales of N's product increase to be able to say that such a decrease was beneficial for the company?

If the markup at which product N is sold is 30%, then sales would need to increase by 186%, almost three times, for the company to earn the same profit as at the undiscounted price.

Calculation of the profitability of the transaction

You can draw conclusions about the profitability of discounts yourself using the table

Profit Loss or Gain Calculator
depending on the discount / markup

№	Discount/surcharge	Cost (Income)	Cost price	Average rate of return (margin)	Profit	Increase/decrease in profit in rub.	Increase/decrease in profit in %
1
2
3

You can only enter your data in the yellow boxes.
In the first line, enter the cost of the product or service and its/her cost.
In the 2nd column, enter the discount or markup you are about to make. The 2nd and 3rd lines perform the same function and are made for convenience so that you can compare the results of different discounts or discounts and price increases.
A positive number is a markup. To indicate a discount, put a minus in front of the number. “Play around” with these numbers - we think the results will surprise you (if you have never made such calculations)
In the red cells you will see the final result. After evaluating it, decide - is it not better to refuse discounts altogether, and vice versa to increase your prices?

Handle discounts wisely. Giving discounts to customers is also a contribution to the development of relations, but do not make rash and unjustified price reductions.

Calculate right now - by how much should the company increase sales if each client receives a 1% discount? Knowing this indicator by managers and managers leads to the fact that company employees begin to understand how much money is lost on discounts. Then, new ways of motivating customers appear in the company's arsenal, such as bonus programs and personalized discount calculation.

Microsoft Excel allows you to quickly work with percentages: find them, sum them up, add them to a number, calculate percentage growth, percentage of a number, of a sum, etc. Such skills can be useful in a wide variety of areas of life.

In everyday life, we are increasingly confronted with interest: discounts, loans, deposits, etc. Therefore, it is important to be able to calculate them correctly. Let's take a closer look at the techniques offered by the built-in spreadsheet toolkit.

How to calculate percentage of a number in Excel

The mathematical formula for calculating interest is as follows: (search part / integer) * 100.

To find the percentage of a number, the following version of the formula is used: (number * percentage) / 100. Or move the comma as a percentage by 2 digits to the left and perform only multiplication. For example, 10% of 100 is 0.1 * 100 = 10.

Which formula to apply in Excel depends on the desired result.

Task #1: Find how much is 20% of 400.

We make the cell in which we want to see the result active.
In the formula bar or directly into the cell, enter =A2*B2.

Since we immediately applied the percentage format, we did not have to use a mathematical expression in 2 steps.

How to assign a percentage format to a cell? Choose any method convenient for you:

immediately enter a number with the sign "%" (the cell will automatically set the desired format);
right-click on the cell, select "Format Cells" - "Percentage";
select a cell and press the hot key combination CTRL+SHIFT+5.

Without using the percentage format, the usual formula is entered into the cell: \u003d A2 / 100 * B2.

This option for finding a percentage of a number is also used by users.

Task #2: 100 items ordered. Delivered - 20. Find how many percent of the order is completed.

Set the required cell format to percentage.
Enter the formula: =B2/A2. Press ENTER.

In this problem, we again managed with one action. The quotient did not have to be multiplied by 100, because the cell is formatted as a percentage.

It is not necessary to enter percentages in a separate cell. We can have a number in one cell. And in the second - the formula for finding the percentage of the number (= A2 * 20%).

How to add percentage to a number in Excel?

In mathematics, we first find percentages of a number, and then we perform addition. Microsoft Excel does the same. We need to enter the formula correctly.

Task: Add 20 percent to the number 100.

We enter the values in cells with the appropriate formats: number - with a numeric (or general), percentage - with a percentage.
Enter the formula: =A2+A2*B2.

Another formula can be used to solve the same problem: =A2*(1+B2).

Difference between numbers as a percentage in Excel

The user needs to find the difference between the numerical values as a percentage. For example, calculate how much the price of the supplier increased / decreased, the profit of the enterprise, the cost utilities etc.

That is, there is a numerical value that has changed over time, due to circumstances. To find the percentage difference, you must use the formula:

("new" number - "old" number) / "old" number * 100%.

Task: Find the percentage difference between the "old" and "new" prices of the supplier.

Let's make the third column "Dynamics in percent". Let's assign a percentage format to the cells.
Put the cursor in the first cell of the column, enter the formula: = (B2-A2) / B2.
Let's press Enter. And drag the formula down.

The percentage difference has a positive and a negative value. The establishment of the percentage format made it possible to simplify the original calculation formula.

The percentage difference between two numbers in the default cell format ("General") is calculated using the following formula: =(B1-A1)/(B1/100).

How to multiply by percentage in Excel

Task: 10 kg of salt water contains 15% salt. How many kilograms of salt are in the water?

The solution comes down to one action: 10 * 15% = 10 * (15/100) = 1.5 (kg).

How to solve this problem in Excel:

Enter the number 10 in cell B2.
Place the cursor in cell C2 and enter the formula: \u003d B2 * 15%.
Press Enter.

We didn't have to convert the percentage to a number because Excel recognizes the "%" sign perfectly.

If the numeric values are in one column, and the percentages are in another, then it is enough to make cell references in the formula. For example, =B9*A9.

Calculation of interest on a loan in Excel

Task: They took 200,000 rubles on credit for a year. Interest rate - 19%. We will repay over the entire term in equal installments. Question: what is the amount of the monthly payment under these credit conditions?

Important conditions for choosing a function: the constancy of the interest rate and the amounts of monthly payments. A suitable variant of the function is "PLT ()". It is located in the section "Formulas" - "Financial" - "PLT"

Rate - the interest rate on the loan divided by the number of interest periods (19%/12, or B2/12).
Nper is the number of loan payment periods (12).
PS - loan amount (200,000 rubles, or B1).
The fields of the arguments "BS" and "Type" will be ignored.

The result with the "-" sign, because the borrower will repay the money.

Before proceeding to a direct description of the types of discounts and their economic evaluation, we should dwell on the principles of their application, the implementation of which should ensure the effectiveness of the entire system of discounts.

First, the use of a discount system should lead to a positive economic effect. That is, discounts should not be perceived as a necessary evil that companies have to put up with. On the contrary, they should serve at least to maintain the level of profitability, and better - to increase it.

Secondly, the discount provided should arouse real interest in the buyer and the desire to fulfill the agreed conditions.

Thirdly, the discount system should be simple and understandable to customers and employees of the company. The presence of a large number of different types of discounts in one system at the same time can create confusion and misunderstanding among the buyer and significantly complicate the work of the sales department.

Main types of discounts

Progressive discounts for large purchases

This is the most common type of discount. The company establishes their progressive scale depending on the volume of the consignment or the volume of purchases for a certain period. However, in most cases, such systems are drawn up intuitively and very often are not effective enough.

To calculate the scale of discounts, the principle of not reducing the profit level can serve - the profit at the discounted price and the new sales volume should be no less than at the initial values of the price and sales level.

Given this principle, you can derive a formula for calculating discounts.

where current margin is revenue minus variable costs for manufacturing enterprise or purchase cost for trading companies. If trading company a large amount of own variable costs, then they should also be added to the purchase price;
desired margin increase is an indicator of the desired margin growth in relation to the current level.

As can be seen from the formula, aggregated data (margin and markup percentage) by product category are used to calculate the discount scale. At the same time, the product category itself may contain a large number of commodity items with different prices, units of measurement and sales volumes.

The use of source data by product category makes the formula easy to apply in practice, since the discount scale has to be developed entirely for product categories, and not for individual items.

There are two ways to apply the formula:

EXAMPLE 1

The client asks for an additional discount

Suppose a customer purchases a certain category of goods for the amount of 40,000 rubles every month, taking into account the 2% discount provided to the customer. That is, according to the price list, such a batch costs 40,816 rubles (40,000 rubles / (1-2% / 100%)). The average trade margin for this product category is 25%. In this way, purchase price of the considered batch of goods is 32,653 rubles (40,816 rubles / (1 + 25% / 100%)), and the current margin is 7347 rubles (40,000-32,653).

So the customer is asking for a big discount. For example, 4% or 7%. What counter-conditions should the company offer in order to maintain the level of profit? For example, for a discount level of 7% or more, the company has set a desired margin increase of 1000 rubles compared to the previous level of 7347 rubles. Using the above formula, we calculate the required sales volume in monetary terms for each discount level (see Table 1).

Table 1. Calculation of the required sales volume

Index	Discount amount
Index	0 %	2 %	4 %	7 %	10 %
Desired margin increase

Required increase in sales volume relative to current sales
Price list price
Purchase cost

EXAMPLE 2

Development of a general scale of discounts

To do this, you need to do the following calculations:

For the option when the trade margin is 20%, we get the following table (see Table 2).

Table 2. Calculation of the scale of discounts

Index	Discount amount
Index	0 %	2 %	4 %	7 %	10 %
Desired margin increase
Required sales volume at a discount
Rounded discounted sales volume
Price list price
Purchase cost

Contract discounts

This group of discounts should motivate the client to fulfill such contractual conditions that are beneficial for the company. Contractual discounts may be due to the term of payment, a certain type of payment or currency, the purchase of a certain product line, etc.

To establish conditions for the payment term, payment currency and type of means of payment economic assessment can serve bank interest, conversion and banking costs, and for the line and grade - freezing costs working capital and other benefits from the complex order.

Thus, the company sets such conditions for the client, the fulfillment of which is interesting for the client and beneficial for the company. Conversely, it is possible to set margins on terms that are unfavorable to the company.

EXAMPLE 3

Discount due to payment term

The following scheme can serve as an example of setting conditions for the payment period. There is a base price for the goods when paid upon delivery. At the same time, it is possible to grant a delay to the client for 30 days or to receive an advance payment from the client for 30 days. If it is beneficial for the company to motivate the client to pay earlier, you can set a discount for prepayment and, conversely, a markup for deferred payment.
The comparison rate can be bank interest. Take for example 18% per annum or 1.5% per month. Thus, the company can set conditions slightly better than the bank rate (for example, a 2% discount for prepayment and a 2% markup for deferred payment) in order to make it interesting for the client to pay for the goods earlier.

EXAMPLE 4

Discount based on settlement currency

Clients of a company trading in auto parts for foreign cars had the opportunity to pay for goods different types cash currency (rubles, dollars and euros). But under the current system of payment, there was an abundance of dollars, there were not enough rubles, and the euro at that time had not yet received sufficient distribution.

Then a “currency flow map” was drawn up and analyzed — that is, it was estimated how much the company receives different currencies and how much there is a need to spend it, taking into account all the conditions for converting and the cost of banking services. After that, the conditions for accepting currency and the internal exchange rate were carefully changed in the direction of more favorable conditions from the company's point of view.

EXAMPLE 5

Discount due to a set of conditions

Often you can find a “retro bonus” scheme (payment of the discount amount at the end of the month, subject to a number of conditions). The total amount of the discount is made up of a set of conditions that the company needs to fulfill. For example:

for the implementation of the planned volume - 3%;
for timely payment - 3%;
for the selected line - 2%.

Thus, if all conditions are met, the client receives a total discount of 8%.

However, this scheme does not always work either. Sometimes clients (especially small ones) say: “Give me 3% now and I don’t need any more.” It is important not to forget the principle of discount attractiveness for the client and to keep track of what really arouses his interest.

The next important point of the contract is the terms of delivery of the goods. The company may provide for additional actions to encourage customers to comply with favorable conditions for it. For example, if there is a permanent fleet of vehicles, the seller should try to deliver goods with his own vehicles (within the limits of vehicle loading), since idle vehicles will somehow affect financial results. And a stable loading of the fleet can bring benefits both direct economic and indirect (in the form of convenience for customers).

Delivery markup additional service for delivery can be justified by the fact that its amount is somewhat less than the cost of an alternative delivery service when the client uses hired transport.

On the contrary, if the client has his own transport, he has the right to demand a discount. But in this case, the seller can set a discount slightly less than their own shipping costs.

Seasonal (holiday) discounts to redistribute demand

The use of seasonal discounts allows you to redistribute demand over time - to ensure uniform loading and reduce aggregate demand during peak periods.

Seasonality of demand is a common situation in conditions of limited production capacity companies, when during the peak period it cannot provide all applications, and during the recession it is forced to stand idle. In this case, discounts are designed to redistribute demand over time and encourage buyers to purchase goods before the onset of the season and, accordingly, reduce demand during peak periods.

Glossary

Switching costs are the costs that a customer will have to incur when switching to a new product or a new seller. Costs can be both monetary (loss of discount) and psychological (habit, convenience for the buyer). — Note. author.

Seasonal fluctuations can be both for a long time (for example, during the summer months or new year holidays), and in short periods - a week and a day. Then peak days and evening hours can be respectively. Therefore, some supermarkets provide discounts to pensioners when they make a purchase before 12 noon. An economic criterion for the effectiveness of such discounts can be an assessment of the benefits from the redistribution of demand and lost profits when peak demand is not met.

If a company purposefully prepares for an increase in purchasing activity, holiday discounts are sometimes applied, the main purpose of which is to revive trade and attract customers to their store during a period of predictable increase in purchasing activity.

Seasonal discounts for product liquidation

Another type of seasonal discounts are discounts to get rid of goods, the main task of which is to stimulate demand for the elimination of residues. If a company has not been able to sell all seasonal items during peak sales, then it has two options: store those leftovers until the next season, or provide discounts to possibly eliminate leftovers. Therefore, the economic assessment for calculating such discounts is the assessment of the cost of storing products. At the same time, both direct costs (mainly the use of occupied space) and indirect costs (risks of physical and moral aging of the goods, loss of presentation, etc.) should be taken into account. Thus, if the cost of storing goods is high, and the calculated discount is really able to attract a sufficient number of buyers, then the use of this type of discount is advisable.

Prevention of adverse tax consequences

When applying discounts, the provisions of Article 40 must be taken into account tax code RF, which establishes the principles for determining the price of goods, works, services. By general rule for taxation purposes, the price of goods, works or services indicated by the parties to the transaction is accepted, and until proven otherwise, it is assumed that this price corresponds to the level of market prices. But it should be remembered that if the price deviates by more than 20% upwards or downwards from the price level applied by the taxpayer for identical (homogeneous) goods within a short period of time, tax authorities can check the correctness of the application of prices for transactions (subclause 4, clause 2, article 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If a deviation is detected, they have the right to charge additional tax and penalties.

Therefore, if the maximum discount is 20% of the regular price level (if prices are kept at the average market level), then the tax authorities have no reason to find fault with the seller. If discounts of more than 20% are expected, then such actions must be explained by the fact that the discounts are due to the marketing policy of the taxpaying organization. Or seasonal and other fluctuations in demand. These factors must be taken into account by the tax authorities when calculating the market price. These and other circumstances listed in paragraph 3 of Article 40 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the taxpayer has the right to refer to, protecting their interests.

However, such actions must be confirmed by appropriate documents. Without fail, they must be fixed in special internal documents. This may be an order or order of the head of the organization. In addition, an indication of the formation of the transaction price, taking into account discounts as part of the marketing policy, can also be reflected in the text of the contract for the sale of goods sold at a discount, in the invoice for payment for the goods. This is proof that the price of the goods is not underestimated due to other reasons.

Attracting new customers and retaining old ones

The main task of discount systems aimed at attracting new buyers is to form, in a certain period of time, such conditions that would ensure interest and encourage the buyer to contact this particular seller. Moreover, to achieve such a result, it is not necessary to reduce the price of all goods. It is enough to reduce it only by a few so-called “indicator” goods, the prices of which the buyer remembers and by which he judges the price level of the entire company.

Goods - "indicators" should occupy a small volume in the total mass of goods sold, since a price reduction for a large part of the range or for the "main" product can lead to significant economic losses. There can be no more than 3–5 such goods in each product category, and it is for them that the buyer must know the price level. Covering losses from lower prices for some goods should be carried out through the additional sale of other goods, for which the price may be too high.

After the company has managed to attract new customers, the next task is to retain them - the formation of such conditions under which the customer who made the first purchase will be interested in purchasing goods from this seller in the future. In this case, the ideal option can be considered a situation in which each subsequent purchase will increase this interest more and more. This problem can be quite successfully solved using a system of cumulative discounts: they must be significant for the buyer and must exceed the cost of switching when applying to another company.

Dealer discounts

separate category discounts are discounts for dealers, distributors, wholesalers, firms that participate in the product distribution system of the selling company. A rough economic estimate for dealer discounts can be a discount value that is approximately equal to the cost of services for the distribution of products (or it is slightly less than the cost of organizing your own promotion channel)*.

So, if you correctly develop and calculate the system of discounts, they will be economically beneficial both for the company itself and for the buyer. Moreover, the effect that the discount produces is measured not only by economic benefits. A company that provides a discount to its customers demonstrates care, respect and increased interest in them, which most often provokes their loyalty to the company. And customer loyalty is worth more than money.

* More about pricing policy when organizing product distribution channels, see the article "Price for the distributor" in the last issue of the magazine "Sales bussines / Sales" (No. 11, 2005). — Note. editions.